I currently have a 3805 & I just wish Denon would hire two guys within that gigantic corporate structure to write and illustrate decent manuals. There's really no excuse to have people complaining year after year about the manuals.

I don't really have any justification for a new receiver, but if I did the 3808 would be on the short list.

Quick question: Two odd little things I would like to see on my next receiver are the ability to name inputs (I still lose track of what weird thing I am feeding in on the "DBS" input on my Denon) and a sleep timer.

Not sure about the sleep mode Mark. I can’t find it in the manual, nor have I stumbled over it. Not only can you rename the inputs, you actually get to see what you rename them to on the display. You can also delete inputs so you don’t have to see them or cycle through them. Pretty cool feature.

Hansang,

I didn’t need, or really want to buy this receiver or do it to replace the Marantz. I would have preferred to wait a few months and see what Sherwood Newcastle comes out with, or Rotel. Unfortunately, I’m on my second SR/8001 that replaced a defunct unit. The second one also has issues that required me to send it in for evaluation. I decided to just buy something different and I’ll peddle whatever Marantz sends back to me. I do prefer this Denon over the Marantz though. So maybe this will work out….

Michael, The 4806 is one heck of a reciever. I wish I would have just bought one of those in the first place. I wouldn't suggest you ditch it until something really cool hits the streets.

You mention that the Onkyo 905 would have been harder to pass up despite the quirks with its better (Silicon Optix ReonVX compared to Faroudja FLI02310) video processing if you needed a good on board video chip. What I noticed is that the Onkyo 905 also has THX Ultra2 Certification, dual push-pull amps, and Burr-Brown's newest PCM1796 DACs (123dB SNR). The Denon 3808 uses the same three TI SHARC DSPs as the Onkyo for audio decoding and processing, but somewhat inferior Burr-Brown PCM1791 DACs (113dB SNR) from 2005. Notwithstanding the fact that you are using an outboard video processor, do you think there may also be a difference on audio performance between these two units? Were the user complaints you mention related to audio or video performance with the 905? Thanks.

Mike, enjoyed reading your observations, although I wish that you could've gone over those other 73 inputs and outputs for us. Hope that the audio gods are kinder to you with this one.

John, DACs these days are a mature technology so far as actually having an audible effect on performance because of small differences in the specs. The 1791 that the 3808 uses has an SNR already well beyond what's required for audibly flawless performance in that respect.

Ya, what JohnK said about the DAC’s. Allan has also commented before about DAC performance. What most folks don’t realize is that DAC’s are cheap. I believe the very best DAC you can buy is under 10 bucks. What’s more important, is how well they are implemented into the whole electronic package. This is the same as with video processing chips. Even though the Reon is getting some very good praise, if it’s implemented incorrectly, it won’t do a lick of good. Having said that, I don’t think anyone can make a claim that any piece of audio gear will sound better than another without doing a true blind listening session, and those that do make those claims should probably be ignored because they are obviously F-O-S.

As far as the Onkyo quirks I mentioned, I’d prefer to not get into that in this thread because it was not my intention to turn this into a “which receiver should I get thread”, but just a user report on this particular Denon. Denon has a large fan base on these boards, and I figured I’d just pass along some information to any who may be considering this receiver. If you go to AVS, there’s a multitude of threads discussing the new Onkyo’s and their related problems.

Thanks for the follow up. The basis for my inquiry is that I am considering the Integra DTC-9.8 as a pre-pro to pair with the A1400-8. I suspect the 9.8 has similar audio/video boards to the 905 but without the internal amps. It is very hard to find due to high demand, and the Denon 3808 represents a nice alternative, especially since it can also accept HBR audio and decode all 4 high-rez formats internally. User reports at AVS have been very positive (no lip sync issues, for instance).

I guess a separate question is what characteristics to look for in the pre-outs of AVRs if one contemplates using them as a pre-pro. What would be the pre-out voltage requirement, for instance. I guess this could be considered in another thread unless someone cares to chime in.

The 9.8 / 1400 is the combination I had my heart set on, but when I starting thinking about all that money and my ‘huge’ 12 X 16 room, I decided to spend the money I save buying a receiver on something more useful.

If you want particular information on the 9.8/1400 combo, shoot CV a PM. He’s got it. If you can’t find the 9.8, the Onkyo Pro 885 is the same thing, but prettier. I’ve read that both of these units run hot as well (they also use the Reon).

If you go with a receiver as a pre/pro, you will loose balanced outputs. Unless you plan to have the amp and pre/pro twenty feet or so apart from each other, I doubt balanced outputs will serve any useful purpose other than cost you a pocket full of ten dollar bills.

I absolutely love the GUI on this Denon. Unless the Integra has something comparable, I’d sure hate to give this up. It’s just too friggin cool.